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In order to achieve its main goal Melting Pot Bolivia has founded GUSTU Food School, which will be the scenario to create, redefine and discover the immense possibilities of Bolivian agricultural products.
The cooking school is an integral part of the restaurant where approx. 30 young socially disadvantaged young people are trained each year to become future chefs, waiters, bakers and restaurant managers. As such GUSTU restaurant and cooking school represent a cornerstone of the Bolivian Food Movement. In principle, the cooking school would copy the success of the New Nordic Kitchen movement. Just like NOMA had a great success in discovering great Nordic produce, the mission of GUSTU is to explore the diversity of Bolivian products. Its aim is to rediscover the values of the indigenous food cultures from the Amazon, the Altiplano (High Plateau) and the valleys in order to develop new culinary expressions that will become an asset to the food movement in Bolivia.
It has to be mentioned as well that what sets NOMA and GUSTU apart from other restaurants is that they have a sort of an R&D division, i.e. a food laboratory, connected to the restaurant (Hieger 2013). The aim of this Food Lab lies in the experimentation of new products or new ways to prepare already known products. GUSTU restaurant is actually even closer to the original(ist) philosophy of the New Nordic Kitchen Movement as all of the products served at the restaurant including wine, beers and spirits are of Bolivian origin only. Let us now turn the cornerstone of the Bolivian Food Movement, Meyer‟s GUSTU restaurant in La Paz.
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all, for the potential of its natural biodiversity. As Meyer (n.d.) points out: “I am excited by what the chefs Michelangelo Cestari and Kamila Seidler will be able to make of the produce from the Salt Lakes, the Andes and the fruits of the Amazon.”
It is a first restaurant of its kind in La Paz not only because it is a social enterprise with its cooking school but also due to its impressive interior which feels very much as the international diner. Its décor is inspired by the Nordic minimalist style, grey walls and large windows with impressive views of the Andes and low-wattage exposed light bulbs. Like the food, everything is sourced from within the country including wines overseen by local designer Joyce Martín. There are flashes of local colour, too, in the Andean-inspired striped cushions, dotted around the space.
GUSTU is financed by Melting Pot Bolivia and the Danish IFO (Investment Fund for Developing Countries).11 According to Meyer the final cost of the project was more than expected which amounted to USD $1.1 million and launching of the opening of the restaurant was later than firstly anticipated. Most of the profits made by restaurants will go to charitable projects in Bolivia such as education of young Bolivians as well as the Bolivian Food Movement, thus aiming for long-term sustainability. This gourmet restaurant is headed by the chefs Kamilla Seidler and Michelangelo Cestari12 who are responsible for the cooking school, the restaurant including bistro and bakery which will open at a later stage. They work in collaboration with a team of four Bolivian chefs who were trained in NOMA and a number of other Danish top restaurants.
Meyer wants to offer diners a chance to explore local Bolivian flavours they have never even heard of, let alone tried. Just like Brazilian chef Alex Atala succeeded in redefining Latin American food with use of exotic Amazon ingredients at his restaurant DOM in Sao Paulo,
11 IFU (n.d.) “provides advisory services and risk capital to Danish companies wishing to set up operations in developing countries.”
12 Claus Meyer (n.d.) refers to their CV as follows: “Michelangelo Cestari (born in Venezuela and with Italian citizenship) [was] head of ‟sweets and bread‟ at Michelin star restaurant Relæ and [had] previously worked as a chef at Geranium and Mielcke & Hurtigkarl. Before entering the Copenhagen restaurant scene, he worked at Au Crocodile in Strasbourg, Le Manoir aux Quat‟Saisons in Oxford and Mugaritz in San Sebastián. Both are two-starred Michelin restaurants.
Kamilla Seidler [was] assistant head chef at Restaurant Geist, where she also worked as souschef and dessert chef. Before that, she [had been] a chef at Meyer Kantiner and dessert chef at Søllerød kro. Prior to that, she worked at the meat- and fish section at Restaurant Paustian and – like Michelangelo – at Le Manoir aux Quat‟Saisons and Mugaritz.“ For an interview in television with both chefs on their culinary project with Gustu on Bolivian TV, refer to Casi al mediodia (2013).
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and Peruvian Gastón Acuri whose international chain of high-end restaurants has put his country's cuisine on the food map.
Clearly, Meyer was inspired by his personal experience with the New Nordic Kitchen Movement and the universality of its core values which are characterised by the use of local, seasonal produce, self-sufficiency and regional exchange of products. Moreover, the success of bringing together all the major players in the food producing sector was something he wanted to apply in the Bolivian context.
As said, the success of the GUSTU restaurant will crucially influence the success of the food movement in Bolivia. For this reason, it is helpful to discuss the reactions of international food critics to the opening of the restaurant in April 2013. Overall, the opening of GUSTU was met with much excitement and the reviews so far have been quite positive.
Ryan Sutton (the New York restaurant critic for Bloomberg News) recently wrote about project and restaurant saying:
…One of my favourite meals of the past 12 months. … First comes a swath of farmer‟s cheese and purple corn puree… Next is a plate of gumdrop-sized pink potatoes coated in spicy aji amarillo pepper puree…topped with a „paper‟
made of the same spicy peppers and finished with shavings of chuno [dehydrated potato], followed by vicuna jerky with hearts of palm, a poached egg and fried trout roe … Course 4 is Ilama - a shoulder poached in butter for 14 solid hours…..with a topping of almond shavings, piney at first, dissolves on the tongue like snowflakes. And it‟s unlike anything I‟ve ever tried, anywhere. … And lastly: pacay, a Bolivian fruit that is shaped like a banana, tastes like a cross between a litchi and a watermelon and has the consistency of cotton candy. … The flavours are clean and pure. This is a destination dish.”
Ed Stocker (2013) from The Guardian writes following:
Sampling the GUSTU tasting menu is certainly a lesson in the biodiversity that Meyer rates so highly. Tender beets come with papalisa, a yellow potato dotted with shocks of pink and flavoured with hibiscus, a plate bursting with
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colour and flavour. A perfectly cooked egg yolk comes in a "nest" of palm heart strips and alpaca charque, Bolivia's jerky equivalent. Pink llama loin is served with fermented carrots, coa oil (a herb that tastes like a combination of rosemary, Swiss mint and eucalyptus) and little green and yellow wakataya herb flowers, giving the dish a unique sweet-fragrant kick.
While Nicolas Lander (2013) from the Financial Times writes:
I have never yet devoted this column to a restaurant I have not eaten in. But I believe the story of GUSTU in La Paz, Bolivia, is still worth telling, and I hope I will be forgiven this time … Like Noma did with Nordic food, GUSTU promotes indigenous ingredients – from waycha potatoes to cheeses and Tarija wines.
Along these enthusiastic comments, GUSTU got also terrific reviews from Patrick Hieger (2013) as well as from the Spanish food critic Ignacio Medina (2013). Jane Black (2013) similarly recalled that she “ate at GUSTU just three days after the restaurant opened its doors… [and] dined out on the story ever since.”
Amaru Villanueva Rance (2013) portrays a more nuanced picture of her culinary experience at GUSTU:
While it is true that in place like GUSTU one is invited to revel in aesthetic set of experiences unfolding across all of your senses, in the history of the ingredients and the social dimension of what is being cooked up beyond the kitchen… However, it does not as of yet epitomise the elemental mouth-watering feeling even pre-linguistic infants can recognise… What really sets GUSTU apart from its local competitors is its integrity, its philosophy, and vision. Here are people trying to create something truly new and unique, and while doing so they aim to transform an entire society and culture. More than a restaurant, it's a movement. The scale of their ambition puts them in a league of their own. La Suisse is certainly commercially successful, but what's a Swiss restaurant doing offering an uninspired Sushi on the menu? Or why are you sometimes made to feel the owner is doing you a favour by allowing you to dine at La Comedie? Both of the aforementioned establishments are without a doubt professional and well run. Why, the food's even consistently good.
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What they're lacking is heart and artistry, and this is something GUSTU has, unequivocally so…. Nevertheless, in order to succeed commercially it has to do more than just that, it needs repeat customers who go back and seek out the same succulent signature dishes time after time; where gluttons and aesthetes alike can find something to return back to. Somewhere you can go to irrationally. Thankfully, the menu is continually evolving.
Nevertheless most quoted food critics expressed concerns regarding the commercial sustainability of the restaurant which are mostly related to geographical position and the logistical challenges of having such a high class restaurant in Bolivia. Sutton (2013) points out that “for Americans the total cost of a trip to GUSTU in La Paz is about the same price as a trip to NOMA in Copenhagen … Only that one does not have to go through the hassle of a long flight which is 13-19 hours, each way, including layovers, visa paper work as well as obtaining a certificate of criminal clearance.… Bolivia is as hard as hell to get to, Copenhagen is not.” If one though happens to be in La Paz, the price is a steal (Hieger 2013).
Sutton concludes his article by the open question: “Will GUSTU be as splendid for the anonymous diner?” Certainly, the price range is at a very high level for Bolivia. Ed Stocker points out that the targeted clientele of GUSTU are not the average Bolivians but rather diplomats, tourists and the Bolivian elite. The prices are unaffordable to most of the population (individual a la carte plates are £6 to £14.50; tasting menus cost £39 for five courses, rising to £87 for 15). He wonders whether GUSTU will be sustainable in long term as jetsetters are considerably few in La Paz in compression with the neighbouring capitals such as Rio and Buenos Aires. In addition he argues that GUSTU does not have a waiting list, while getting a table at NOMA means a long waiting list as the restaurant is fully booked at least three months in advance. He ends his article by asking “Will the local elite return again and again?”
According to one of the head-chefs, Kamilla Seidler the real challenge to beat in La Paz is good, cheap street food and not the other fine restaurants in the city. In order that the menu can keep evolving and that GUSTU can be sustainable in the long term, a better organization of local food supply is necessary. For the moment, the links between high-end restaurants and farmers are weak. If a restaurant wants to be the driver of change, a more direct link with
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farmers in terms of innovation of agricultural products is certainly necessary. Against this backdrop, the next chapter will establish the main actors in the local food value chain and their role in the current provision of arrangements. Furthermore, it will propose initiatives for upgrading supply from dispersed small-scale producers.
5. Local food value chain in Bolivia
Based on the theoretical framing of local food value chains in the context of developing countries, the objective of this chapter is to provide an analysis concerning the organisational part of the food value chain in Bolivia and identify critical factors for creating and managing the local value chain.